My 71 Duster work in progress

Dumb question but would not a larger radiator do the job?
I never had over heating problems with any of the 'Cuda's , the orig. & this 74 had A/C & 26" rads, the 73 was no a/c & only had a 22" but didn't get hot either?
 
Yeah I could but then I'd have to hack it in. Dusters didn't get bigger rads until 73, maybe 72. 70 and 71 aren't made for them (69-back). You start getting into trimming the opening and the frame rail lip and I'm not sure one would work in that case anyway.

I had a 72 that I was tipped to put a truck radiator in, and that seemed to work with an electric fan.

I do not know why this engine seems to run hot. If the smaller pulley and the larger fan doesn't do it I don't know what will.

BTW it sounds like a different motor with the lifters changed. They still bleed off and clatter for a second until the OP builds up but not like before, and they're just quieter overall. I just had the valve cover off and the the lifters were still pumped up from running it yesterday.
 
Yea, I picked up a 26" when I did the 73, after looking at all the cutting & fabing I just recored the old one.

Well at least one problem solved, one at a time, eventually we will get there.
I got my new washer pump & have been procrastinating about putting it in!
 
I have the fan parts and the pulley but surprise surprise, the billet pulley is so thick it takes up most of the centering nub on the water pump.

1749296607611.png

That kind of makes it only suitable for an electric fan.

Disappointed, not surprised.
 
It's done. One thing I might've screwed up on is I didn't put a flat washer under the lock washer, and the fan clutch is slotted. I probably should go back and put those flat washers in. At least I don't have to take it apart to do that, I can just loosen it up and do one bolt at a time.

1749321983038.png

1749322055427.png
 
I just came back in from running it for a while and I'm afraid to say it but it might have helped. I noticed I was able to chase the temps back down a little bit by revving the engine. It never got much past the thermostat opening temp at about 180. I don't know, it might keep climbing like it did before but I ran it a pretty long time.

The fan pulls more air than any of the others I tried by a lot.

I need to take it around on a drive but the valves are tapping so I need to add a little preload to try to shut them up first.

I had the headers off to replace the gaskets and I swear I've got a weird noise again that I got rid of by prying the headers away from the torsion bars etc. I guess I gotta tweak them again.
 
If anyone cares, so far I've had the converrt out a few times. Everything there runs & works perfect. The 318, wipe the dust off & go. Hemi, I made a few changes to the carbs, but I need to tweak the idle. And lastly, took the wagoon out for its' maiden voyage and it still impresses me how well it runs & drives. :giggle:
 
Yea yea go ahead & rub it in!
The 73 was much more cooperative, if it wasn't a #'s engine on this car I would have switched drivetrain.
I wonder how it's doing across the pond in the UK?
 
RUSTY Cuda said:
I wonder how it's doing across the pond in the UK?
Click to expand...
Odds are good it's sitting in a garage because it's raining.

I got rid of the top end noise. All the lifters now have 1-1/4 turn (0.078") preload.

If it'll stop raining for a few hours so the roads could dry out I'd go for a spin.
 
RUSTY Cuda said:
Yea yea go ahead & rub it in!
Click to expand...
Many times over the years I dealt with issues not much different from what you're dealing with. But that was before interweb, restoration suppliers & such. We learn from mistakes. Mistakes of others and our own.
 
RUSTY Cuda said:
Well I can easily say I must now be a genius because I spent most of my time on these cars fixing my mistakes!
Click to expand...
Just think of all that you've learned throughout this time on Scatpack and here. And most all of what you've learned has been "self taught". Stand proud man, stand proud. (y)
 
Wish I was younger I'd start another one!
Might make a few less mistakes, I really enjoyed the building, learning welding & body work, mechanical is my weak spot, I can change a part, but don't always know how the darn thing works.
 
RUSTY Cuda said:
Wish I was younger I'd start another one!
Might make a few less mistakes, I really enjoyed the building, learning welding & body work, mechanical is my weak spot, I can change a part, but don't always know how the darn thing works.
Click to expand...
Body work is art. I can diagnose and repair but nope on paint and body.
 
Next I've got to fix the gauges. Both the temp and fuel gauges don't work. I've done grounded wire tests, voltage measurement tests, at one point even I took the tank sender out and measured it on the bench.

The one common cause for those gauge failures is that both gauges run off the IVR (instrument voltage regulator), so I checked that. It was varying the voltage and was mostly around mid-range as expected, but it also showed barely above zero. I don't know if that's expected or not, but it might be.

Also, the cluster is grounded by a Bob-supplied wire so that shouldn't be a problem.

Based on that, the gauges should work, but they don't.

I have sat and stared at the fuel gauge and could see that it actually rises a little bit with the key on, so I wonder if it could be the IVR isn't pulsing the right voltage. The digital jobs aren't cheap anymore, so I'm hesitant to buy the dumb thing just to find out it isn't broken. RTE limiter - rte I've got an IVR on another cluster, but swapping that out is a lot of work just to find out that one doesn't work either. (I really need to buy two of the RTE IVRs).

So I think for now I'll just stick with filling it up every time I take it out.

I also picked up a 650 DP carb, to replace the 750 vac carb that's on the car now. I think the throttle response could be "crisper", so I wondered if a smaller carb would improve that, and getting a DP definitely should. But the 750 is a Brawler, not a Holley, so the throttle lever is just different enough that I can't swap what I've got for a throttle cable/spring setup over to the 650, so installing that is going to wait.
 
See below, the #7 exhaust rocker has backed off. It was fine for about 3 miles of so then it started pecking so I turned it around and back home. It was pretty obnoxious by the time I got it back home.

This happened once before but that time I blamed it on old age mind fog while doing the initial adjustment. Same rocker.

I backed the adjuster out with my fingers. The threads look A-OK. I think the way to fix this is to stake the rocker body so the hole is ovaled to lock them in. Maybe?

1750436987984.png
 
Last edited:
You must log in or register to reply here.

SiteLock

SiteLock
Back
Top